Infographic: 72% of smartphone and tablet users expect the same quality of content experience across all digital devices

Seven out of ten smartphone and tablet users (72 per cent) expect the same quality of content experience across all their digital devices, according to new research into consumer attitudes to content consumption led by Vibrant Media.

Despite estimations from The Association of Online Publishers that one in every three page views comes from a mobile device, most owners of handheld devices – 81 per cent of smartphone users and 71 per cent of tablet users – still prefer to consume content on their desktop or laptop computers.

Only 5.52 per cent of those surveyed said they preferred to consume content on a smartphone, and just over eight per cent on a tablet. The overwhelming majority said desktop was their preferred portal.

“Consumers now expect to consume content on their handheld devices just as comfortably as they do on their desktop and laptop computers – but don’t feel that publishers’ sites will match their expectations,” explained Tom Pepper, managing director UK of Vibrant Media.

“A separate, fully optimised mobile site is not an absolute necessity to give consumers an effective mobile experience. Publishers just need to ensure that the editorial of their web sites renders effectively on handheld devices and start replacing desktop-only ad formats with much nimbler ads which work across desktops, laptops, tablets and the small screen format of smartphones.”

“Many publishers are still reliant on ad formats developed for desktop devices to serve consumers on handheld devices. These desktop-only formats often display as huge messages that obscure the editorial or so small they’re almost impossible to see. Such clumsy ad display is a big problem. It contributes to consumers preferring to consume content on a device other than their smartphone or tablet device, which in turn prevents publishers from realising the revenue they can gain from mobile traffic. It’s also a big problem for advertisers as over half of smartphone and tablet users (51 per cent) say they mostly initiate ads on their mobile devices by mistake.”

Toluna conducted the survey of 1000 people across the UK on behalf of Vibrant Media.